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What a sweet little treat to be nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award. I feel so blessed to know that people resonate with my writing and are willing to join my gypsy journey. Thank you for the nomination Summer Goddess, I appreciate your support and enthusiasm.

Here are the rules:

If you are nominated, you’ve been awarded the Versatile Blogger award.

Thank the person who gave you this award. That’s common courtesy.

Include a link to their blog. That’s also common courtesy — if you can figure out how to do it.

Next, select 15 blogs/bloggers that you’ve recently discovered or follow regularly. ( I would add, pick blogs or bloggers that are excellent!)

Nominate those 15 bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award — you might include a link to this site.

Thank you everyone who participated in the contest for a deck of Shaheen’s Tattered Nomad Oracle! It was wonderful connecting with so many people, hearing your stories and sharing this special piece of art. I hope everyone enjoys learning about Lenormand, and the deck… and I hope you are able to get your very own deck!

The winner of the contest is Chase Miller! I hope he enjoys his deck :-)

If you are interested in purchasing a deck you can email me at shaheen @ shaheenmiroinsights.com

I’ve wanted to do a video for awhile now and I have really had the urge to share a little bit about tea leaf reading. I know I did a video similar to this already, but I thought I would make another one to share a brief bit about tea leaf reading and to show the process and what you can expect.

So here I am doing a mini reading on myself… an actually session would be much more in-depth and detailed. If you have questions or comments about tea leaf reading or divination in general please post below… or if you would like a session please contact me.

Yesterday was a perfect day, filled with fun, friendship and tarot! I had the wonderful opportunity to meet my blogger friend, Prince LeNormand, face to face. Him and I began our day in Seven Dials starting with tea and a good chat about life and tarot, and all the things in between. And in our conversation we found that we share so many interests in common.

There was something refreshing about speaking with someone who shares my interest and ideas and being able to actually connect with someone here that I wouldn’t be able to connect with if I weren’t, made it even more delightful. My outlook on this trip was really renewed and I now feel like London is a part of me.

Him and I spent our time browsing through hundreds of tarot decks at a few different stores, and I was overwhelmed at all the beautiful cards to choose from. My dear friend was a wealth of information on decks and he helped me immensely in choosing my new gift to myself.

After finally making a purchase we made our way to lunch and talked a bit more. The day was just great because it was beautiful out and the streets were alive with people enjoying the sun. There were so many shops with magical treasures that called to my spirit. And when we visited the market… I couldn’t handle all the shinny, pretty things. I wanted them all!

Once I made my way I home I finally took my new deck out of the box and thumbed through all the cards and the pages of the book. I am so happy I picked The Heart of Faerie Oracle as my neck deck. Brain Froud is an amazing artist and I love being pulled into his little Faerie world. If you aren’t familiar with him please look him up, you wont be disappointed. I believe he really does give us a glimpse into the world that lives next to our own.

These cards are stunning. They come out at you, with life, energy and grace. The characters are truly spirits living somewhere, calling to us through a thin veil. I was taken back by the messages I received when flipping them over… as if the cards were telling my story word for word.

I slept with my new deck under my pillow last night, as my mother always told me to do… so that I could connect with the images. It was odd because I dreamt about a woman with thick, wild black hair… that reached out around her face like mighty tree branches, tangled with dark, oily spiders webs. She spoke to me hastily as if she were trying to get somewhere… and as she approached me she pulled from her pocket a pair of shinny shears that flashed like the moon on the most velvety night. And she began cutting my hair… madly cutting my hair and locks flew from side to side.

I was frozen as I watched her facial expressions and my hair. She was so intense. I cannot remember what she spoke about. Just about how it had to go… It just had to go. She wasn’t frightening and I didn’t feel threatened. It just felt abrupt. Was that a visit from Faery?

Today I pulled a few cards to share with all of you. The cards decided to show up, two of which I encountered last night: The Lady of Faith, The Gift, and In Two Minds. I found them to work extremely well together and interestingly enough; they were all similar in their color. Some of the cards in the deck are very, very colorful… and others are all sepia, and gray tones.

The first card, The Lady of Faith is a card the represents our need to keep our hearts open. I myself have had times in my life… more often that I would like, where it hurt so bad to love people. Not just romantically, but just plain and simply love… You cannot control others actions, their thoughts or feelings. People are like storms and so is love.

When love hurts us we begin to internalize that feeling. We start to allow the pain to creep into every crack in our being and settle in. We grow ill and fragile. Our confidence dwindles and we have no faith left in anything. Sometimes this manifest as excess weight. But the Lady of Faith ask you to let go of the out come of love… she ask you to give love to yourself, but to release the pain of not having love gifted back… in the way you see fit. There is an abundance of love in the universe if you tap into the source of it.

The second card, The Gift, is a dangerous looking broad. She wears a mask and stand stoic and intimidating. She holds in her hand something unrecognizable, a gift nonetheless. Often gifts come out of a lesson learned, and lessons learned are often scary because they mean you must dance with the dark… the unknown. She represents the unknown.

Her gift to you, through the fear and the struggle is wisdom. Though she may appear intimidating, she is actually very loving and she gives to you this special gift because you’ve earned it. She expects that you use it well, so listen to your inner voice or pay the price.

The third card, In Two Minds, is a card that we all know far too well. This is the faerie that lives in our heads. The constant chattering that comes at the most inopportune times. In Two Minds represents the arguments that we have with our selves about the most ridiculous things. He is a sweet little guy, but he’s confused. He reminds us that what seems to be a “big deal” is often nothing more than us not trusting in ourselves…. So let it go.

These three cards together are powerful. The Lady of Faith ask us to open our hearts, The Gift, urges us to move forward with wisdom and grace, and In Two Minds gently reminds us that our fears are nothing more than illusions and that we need only let go our the “argument” and continue on the path.

I hope all of you are well… and I hope this message finds you in a good place.

Yesterday was a wonderful day. My task was to go to the Convent Garden area and explore the streets of Seven Dials. The woman I am interning with Laura Dawson is looking for a retail space and wanted me to scope things out. So instead of heading to the studio yesterday morning I took the tube to that area of the city.

I arrive very early, much to early for the stores to be open and since my task was to locate retail space to let and get a feel for foot traffic and consumer profiles I needed to wait for a bit. I wasn’t sure what I would do to kill time, I thought maybe have a coffee or just sit on a bench… but as I wondered down another side street I saw a sign that read in bold letters, “FREE MENS HAIR CUTS”. Instantly they had my interest, as I have needed a haircut for some time.

I mulled it over in my head and thought to myself, I have needed to get my haircut since I left home…. But I didn’t want to spend the money. So I went inside to ask about it. The woman at the desk informed me that it was a beauty school and salon and that the students do free male hair cuts for practice. So I agreed to have my hair done.

I had a wonderful little British girl, about 17 who wanted to be a barber and specialize in hair coloring. She was delightful, slightly rebellious and a very interested in conversation. We talked about how I wanted my hair cut initially, but soon our conversations went to the US and the UK and the similarities and difference and then to life goals. She was very sweet and I started to realize how timid she was with the scissors. You could tell she really wanted to do well but was still searching for her niche.

It was nice to actually have my hair cut and not worry about cost. And I think it was great experience for her because she got to do another cut and she seemed really eager to chat with someone from America. I really learned a lot from talking to her and I felt so much better having a new haircut… I’m very happy with her work.

I then wondered down more streets. Like an endless maze, I would wind down one street and magically get back to where I began without ever crossing the same path twice. London’s like that though, an endless maze of nonsensical paths.

At one point I turned a corner and there in front of me was a store called Mysteries. Instantly intrigued by its withering, hippy-esque exterior and Zen like energy radiating from the front door… I decided I had to go in. The slightly off kilter, retro punk dressed boys sitting on the bench furthered my fascination with this little den of “Mystery”. I just had to see what waited inside.

Once I stepped in I was greeted with warm smiles and a million new things to look at. Crystals, candles, cards, posters, jewelry, anything and everything you could think of! Literally there was rooms of new age, fluffy stuff … and the little sage burning, black hat wearing pre-teen “witch” in me wanted to touch everything! But I contained myself and reverently inspected each room.

There were two rooms that called to my spirit. First was the room that wasn’t really a room, but more of a sanctuary. Off of the crystal room there was a small conservatory like space that had been made into somewhat of a shrine filled with a fountain, and tons of Buddhas and other spiritual statues, crystals, idols and spiritual paraphernalia. It exuded a high vibrating energy that resonated deep inside of me; a sort of deep rooted, tranquil, almost lulling quality.

Then I made my way to my Second favorite room and that was the area that was filled with hundreds of decks of tarot cards! So many decks to see, and touch and pick through and of course I wanted every one of them. It gave me the chance to see a lot of decks in person that I have pinned after for years!

The most exciting part of this little adventure to Mysteries was the “coincidence” of me finding it. A fellow blogger and talented writer Prince Le Normand, from http://princelenormand.blogspot.com/ referred me to the store and I had plans to visit later on during my trip, but as fate would have it… I found it before!

My adventure ended with lunch at, of all places, Pizza Hut. It was a very nice, peaceful and solitary lunch. I ate in alone because I felt it would be nice to just sit and relax and I had a wonderful salad and some pasta… not to mention a very attractive waiter. All the while I people watched out the large window that faced the street (a new hobby of mine since I ride the bus, etc… daily). Saw a beautiful vintage double decker bus too.

Afterwards I made my way back to work. I had a lot of cutting to do. But I felt amazing. Fresh hair, fresh perspective and I was ready to go. Sometimes you need a day out to clear your head. I was happy to see yet another part of the city. I will defiantly be going back to maybe do some shopping… who knows maybe I’ll get another hair cut!

Oh and did I mention that I stopped into Dr. Martens to look at their boots… and now I cant stop thinking about their 1914 black leather boots that I want so bad. I tried them on so that I could imagine myself in them in the mirror and it felt so right. Someday :)